Information Ministry begins session on tackling social media
Muscat: The Ministry of Information on Sunday started an evolution session themed 'Towards a National Framework for Dealing with Social Media'.
The session, which lasts until 25 February 2025, is being organised in cooperation with Oman 2040 Vision Implementation Follow-up Unit.
The session seeks to address digital challenges involved in raising children, enhance public awareness about the safe use of social media and achieve the goals of Oman Vision 2040 in building an enlightened society and developing efficient policies and strategies that reflect the needs of the community.
The session stems from the Royal speech of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik on the responsibility of the family and society towards children's upbringing in an atmosphere of social media.
The session will round up a programme undertaken earlier by the Ministry of Information to engage academics, researchers, educators, media professionals and specialists in drafting research and studies and to conduct a survey and a poll in cooperation with official bodies.
Mohammed bin Said Al Balushi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, said in a speech at the session that the Royal directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik underscored the need to accord a special attention to the influence of social media on youth and young people.
Al Balushi explained that this Royal directive reflects the importance of taking action to address the impacts of social media, safeguard the integrity of the family and adhere to the proper upbring of children—bearing in mind that this phenomenon has become global in its nature and orientations and that it should be dealt with at the national level by establishing clear-cut mechanisms.
Al Balushi added that social media has become a major factor in shaping the communication map in modern societies. He observed that, through social media networks and other applications, one can access the world by pressing a button.
'This tremendous transition in methods of human communication has had major implications to the nature of our social relations and it influences the way we interact with our surroundings,' said Al Balushi.
The session saw the screening of a short film featuring Omani citizenship, the national identity and how to locally deal with social media by establishing clear-cut mechanisms for this purpose. The presentation also dealt with the extent to which the efforts of media agencies could help unify and integrate joint action.
Dr. Amal Mohammed Al Nofli, Director General of Electronic Media, Head of the Working Group, said that the Ministry of Information formed a team comprising members from the Ministry of Information and representatives of government departments to study the current situation, explore the reasons for change, identify the challenges and converting them into opportunities to substitute the negative outcomes from the use of social media with positive outcomes.
The team is also entrusted with enlightening families and youth about the best ways to use social media, she added.
Dr. Amal explained that the team will take steps to prepare a set of initiatives that will contribute to realizing the strategic objectives of the workshop and achieving optimal interaction among means of social media.
The evolution session discusses strategic approaches by raising awareness among families and youth about the importance of responsible use of social media sites.
The workshop envisages the implementation of public awareness campaigns and programmes targeting families and young people.
It also includes programmes to eradicate digital illiteracy, consolidate digital citizenship and ethics and introduce social media education to help inculcate the concepts of digital citizenship and digital ethics through educational curricula designed to enhance positive digital conduct.
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